Thanks for the explanation of the calendar bug. Since I'm in the (unusual?) position of having lots of Delta miles but no status, I guess the bug workaround doesn't help me personally much.

Just yesterday I read a survey of frequent flyer programs in a major magazine, which listed the odds of getting a given domestic or international seat. Delta was by far the worst of the airlines surveyed: international award seats were obtained in only 7% of the attempts! Most of the other airlines percentages were at least in the double digits.

Which is exactly why my remaining Skymiles will most likely be used for hotels via their marketplace. Pretty good value there, considering they are of near no value thanks to their low-tiered award non-availability.

Triple miles on Delta? How/
 

Mooper, I would REALLY like to know how you end up with 180,000 Delta miles by spending $60,000 a year on your credit card. I have been spending that much on my Delta Amex for years, and get year end bonuses, etc, but nothing even close to tripling.

Correct - for international redemption, Delta is quite bad right now. Hopefully they'll change the inventory levels later this year, but no doubt that it stinks right now. 48 states plus Medallion plus know-how is the sweet spot, especially if you earn miles via credit card and other means that utilize promos, where Delta is by far the most generous. Remember - if you earn twice the miles for the same activities, you have twice the miles to spend.

It's not for everyone, but if you can spend $60K within a few months and you value lounge access and you can make good use of a BOGO online coupon for a free companion flight (coach or first) and consider ~$500 fee worth those two items plus 30K MQMs, some fee waivers, and a status tiebreaker to boot, then you're good to go. Spend $60K on the nose on an Amex Reserve and get 60K RDMs (base) plus 30K RDMS (threshold bonuses), for 90K RDMs to start. Then, there's a promo going on right now whereby you can earn double miles on all DL Amex-earned miles now until the fall (note: you must make at least one Skymile award redemption to qualify), so those 90K would turn into 180K. Even if you aren't a Medallion looking to redeem within the 48 contiguous states and are facing higher redemption quantities than you would with other airlines, 4 MPD gives you a pretty nice cushion, no?

Not everyone can take advantage of that promo, but very lucrative ones, albeit less extreme, are around quite often. I haven't run the numbers, but I'm pretty sure my overall average is 2-3 MPD on my Delta Amex spending.

Is there a work around for no-status members?

Ummm.... No.

Why would you need one? As I understand it, the bug is that awards available only to status members don't show properly. Even if you could see them, you couldn't use them anyway...

The calendar displays properly if you aren't searching for Medallion inventory, as far as I'm aware.

Not true if you're looking for award travel wholly within the contiguous 48 states. Delta's non-medallion 48-state inventory is subpar to much of the competition, but not all that bad. International is a different story.

Okay, but as you note...

So why would non-medallions need a workaround for a problem that doesn't affect them in the first place? That's what I was getting at.

Not sure I follow you. No workaround is needed for non-Medallions doing 48-state travel searches. The inventory isn't great, but it isn't that bad if you aren't seeking peak dates or routes and you have a bit of flexibility.

A workaround to the calendar bug will allow Medallions to see even greater inventory that is on par or better than the award inventory of other airlines, again for 48-state travel.

International awards on Delta are far and few between no matter what you do and no matter what your status. Hopefully this will change later in the year.

Right. That's what I was saying. There's no workaround, because no workaround is needed.

Good to see MONEY magazine quantify what we all know. Hopefully this puts some pressure on the Delta marketing department. I've got a little route I use all the time, which I already started favoring Air Tran. I haven't even enlisted in Air Tran's miles program, but the $35 savings for my company to take that flight over Delta is worth it, now that I know that Delta miles are worthless.



Likelihood of getting a seat on a selected route:

CO: 97% (dom) / 46% (intl)
UAL: 81% (dom) / 56% (intl)
AA: 66% (dom) / 50% (intl)
US: 10% (dom) / 11% (intl)
DL: 19% (dom) / 7% (intl)

I am sure you were, Richard Lewis.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0551415/plotsummary

;)

Why not?

Interestingly, when you do get an award for 25k pesos, you ARE spending much less than on any other airline.
If a DL mile is worth 0.6c and the others are worth 1c, the entire award ic much cheaper at 25k.